Starting and stopping means for single revolution rotary printer



United States Patent [72] Inventor Nobumitsu Hegi Kitakyushu, Japan [21] Appl. No. 853,185 [22] Filed Aug. 26, 1969 Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 693,340, Dec. 26, 1967, abandoned. [45] Patented Nov.3,l970 [73] Assignee Nippon Steel Corporation Tokyo, Japan [32] Priority Dec. 31, 1966 [33] Japan [31] No. 41/155987 [54] STARTING AND STOPPING MEANS FOR SINGLE REVOLUTION ROTARY PRINTER 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl l0l/235, 192/16 [51] Int. Cl B4lf 13/24, F16d 67/02 [50] Field ofSearch 101/232, 233, 234,235, 236,237, 35, 36, 91, 239,132.5; l92/16,12,144

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 468,774 2/1892 Ethridge 101/236 2,039,566 5/1936 Swanson 101/235 Primary ExaminerWil1iam B. Penn AttorneyWenderoth, Lind and Ponack ABSTRACT: A running printer. The printer has a frame with a rotary shaft freely rotatably mounted on said frame. A printing drum is freely rotatably mounted on said shaft and has a clutch drum integral with one end of said drum and a brake drum integral with the other end of said drum. A clutch is en- 5 gageable with said clutch drum and a brake is engageable with 5 said brake drum. A signal means is provided for producing signals for startup and stopping in response to the feeding ofa sheet to be printed Clutch and brake actuating means is coupled to said clutch and brake, respectively, and is supplied with signals from said signal means Means is operatively associated with said drum for feeding and guiding a sheet over said drum and drive means is coupled to said clutch and to E said feed and guide means.

Pmemed Nov. 3, EQVQ I 353733 Shem 1 of a FEGO E (PRIOR ART) INVENTOR Noxsumrrsu HEQL ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 3,1970 3,537,393

Sheet 2 of 8 IN VENTOR NOBUMLTSU HEGI ATTORNEY! Shoot INVENTOR NOBUM LISU HEGI ATTORNEYJ" STARTING AND STOPPING MEANS FOR SINGLE REVOLUTION ROTARY PRINTER This application is a continuation-impart of applicant's copending US. Pat. application Ser. No. 693,340, filed Dec. 26, I967 (abandoned).

BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention, relates in general to a running printer, and more particularly a running printer for printing such indications as trademarks or specifications accurately position-wise and efficiently 'onsheets which are fed thereto at a high speed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Printing of such indications as trademarks or specifications on sheets for application to final products or on similar materials, which sheets or materials are fed at a high speed, has been carried out mostly manually and by eye-measurement. Such methods, however, require a lot of labor, resulting in high operating costs. A solution to this problem was sought and initially embodied in a running printer of the rotary type, which, however, has not achieved general popularity, mainly because, when carried out continuously at a high rotation speed of the drum the operation tends to produce more prints than intended and the commercial value of the printed object is low. Another attempt at overcoming such difficulties is an automatic running printer for producing prints automatically and which has the sheets in predetermined positions, for example, a printer according to Japanese Pat. No. 295,147. However, even the printer of this type which uses a printing drum moving up and down with a lever is not'free from such problems as limited operations speed and slippage of prints, so that a printer of this type is not fit for high speed printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been developed in order to solve the problems inherent in the above printers of conventional type. A contact type printer according to the present invention comprises a rotating shaft freely rotatably mounted on a frame, a printing drum freely rotatably mounted on said shaft with a clutch drum and a brake drum set on opposite ends of said drum and integral with said drum, a clutch and abrake operably associated, respectively, with said clutch drum and brake drum, a selective signal means for'issuing signals selectively for startup or stoppage of said drum by actuation of said clutch and brake according to the feeding of the to be printed sheet, and a means for guiding said sheet.

An object of the present invention is to provide a high-speed running contact printer capable of operating at high speed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a running printer capable of operating at high speed and with few troubles through a reduction to the minimum of mechanical impacts on the transmitting-stopping structure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a running printer capable of producing prints accurately position-wise on sheets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEDRAWINGS The above objects will be more clearly understood when considered together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation view of a conventional prior art type automatic running printer;

FIG. 2 is a side view of an embodiment of the printer according to'the present invention shown partly in cross section on line IIII of FIG. 3; I

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross section of the printer shown in FIG. 2 with the brake applied and in a nonprinting condition;

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross section similar to FIG. 3, with the printer shown in the clutched printing condition; and

III

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In order to facilitate an understanding of the present invention, the conventional automatic running printer according to Japanese Pat. No. 295,147 is described, using FIG. I, as follows:

In the FIG., I is the frame; 2 is the operating lever; 3 is the fulcrum pin of the operating lever 2; 4 is the printing drum; 5 is the counter-weight; 6 is an actuating cylinder for causing the operating lever 2 to move up and down; 7 is the stopping means for. stopping the printing drum 4; 8 is the lever for checking the reversal of the printing drum 4; 9 is a resilient connecting means, the tensile force of which can be adjusted and extending between the stopping means 7 and the checking lever 8; and 7' and 8' are pins, respectively, for stopping rotation of the printing drum 4 and for checking its reverse rotation, each being set on the respective end plates of said drum 4. The operation of the printer is carried out in the following manner. When raised by the cylinder 6, the printing drum 4 is held in the position shown in full lines in FIG. I. When a sheet of material is to be fed, an electric signal, for example from a photoelectric means or the like, is generated to cause cylinder 6 to operate to cause the printing drum 4 to move down to the position as shown in broken outline. At the same time,'the stopping means 7 is moved back to allow rotation stopping pin 7 .to movepast the stopping means 7, and the printing drum 4 starts rotating while being pressed down by the force of a piston within the cylinderb via connecting link 6a. After printing. the pistonin cylinder 6 retracts. enabling drum 4 to move up. The rotation stopping pin 7 hits the stopping-means 7 and stops due to the action of the connecting rod 9. The reversal checking pin 8 tends to stop at the predetermined position because it is engaged by the hook-shaped portion of the reversal checking lever 8. The above operations constitute one cycle of operation and are repeated as desired.

Difficulties with the conventional printer are: A high speed of prints per minute cannot be attained by operation of the printing drum 4, which is movable up and down, is rotated by the pressing force of thecylinder 6 and link 6a, and is stopped on every cycle by the lever; particularly, the stopping, pin, the

stopping lever and the reversion checking lever cannot func'- mounted in bearings 28 and 28 on end frames 33 and 33';

Freely rotatably mounted on said shaft 20 on bearings 35 and 35 is aprinting drum 21. Also on said shaft' is fixed a sprocket wheel 24,'which wheel 24 also has integrally formed thereon a guideroll 23. On opposite ends of said printing drum 21-are integrally formed a clutch drum d and a brake drum e Connected with the clutch drum d on one end of said printing drum 21 is one end of an-air clutch 26'which is engageable with said drum d'to drive said drum. The other'end of the air v.clutch.26 is connected to said sprocket wheel 24. Rotatably mounted around the'brake drum e on the other end of saidprinting drum 21 is a sprocket wheel 24'. A guide roll 25,

vsimilarto 23, is fixed on said sprocket wheel 24. An air brake,

27 of the. pneumatically expandable annular band type is positioned around said drums and is ,engageable therewith to stop it. Said air brake 27 is mounted by appropriate mounting means'on the end frame 33. Air clutch26, of'the same general form as brake 27,,and said air brake 27 have respec- 'tive air supply conduits 32 and 32 leading thereto for supplying and discharging air for operating the clutch and air brake. A printing plate 22 is mountedaround a part of the outer surface of said printing drum 21, and limit switch means 34, 34' for detecting the angle through which the printing drum 21 has rotated is mounted adjacent an end of the brake drum e and on the end frame 33', and is connected via a control panel 51 to a magnetic valve 45 controlling air flow to the conduits 32 and 32'.

Above said printing drum 21 is an ink roller 29 for supplying ink to the printing plate 21. Said ink roller 29 is fixed on a shaft 40, which is freely rotatably mounted in the end frames 33 and 33 in the bearings 41 and 41 On said shaft 40 is fixed a gear 39, which is driven by a gear 37 fixed on a driving shaft 36 (see FIG. 2). Also mounted on said driving shaft 36 are sprocket wheels 30 and 30 which are coupled to the sprocket wheels 24 and 24' by chains 31 and 31', so as to rotate the sprocket wheels 24 and 24 by the rotation of the shaft 36. On said shaft 36 is also fixed an ink roller 38 (FIG. 2) which rotates by contact with said ink roller 29. The number 42 designates an ink supply housing, and the numbers 43 and 44 (FIG. 2) designate apparatuses for smoothing the ink supplying surface of the ink rollers 29 and 38.

FIG. 3 shows the drum in the brake applied, clutch released,

nonprinting condition; whereas FIG. 4 depicts the opposite condition.

In FIG. there is shown the printer fixed through the supporting member 48 on the fixing stand 47, which is set over the divided conveyor-belt means 52 for conveying the to be printed sheet 53. The printing plate 22, which is fixed on the rotary printing drum 21, prints at the predetermined place on the sheet 53 through the rotation of the printing drum 21.

OPERATION Regarding the relationship between the photoelectric cell P and the printing apparatus and the others, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when light issued from the lamp 50 provided at the input side or in front of the printing apparatus is cut by the head or lead end of the sheet 53, a signal is issued from the photocell 49 to the control panel 51, so that after the predetermined number of counts, that is, when the sheet 53 has moved over the predetermined distance, the magnetic valves 45 and 46 are set in motion.

When the printing drum 21 is standing still, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, that is, when the air brake 27 is activated to hold the brake drum e so as to hold the printing drum 21 motionless, the magnetic valve 45 opens and air is introduced from the pipe 54 through the pipe 55 and the air hole 32 into the clutch band 26 so as to affix the clutch drum d and immediately after that, the magnetic valve 46 closes and air contained in the brake drum 27 is let out in a certain volume from the air discharging valve in side the magnetic valve 46 through the air hole 32' and the pipe 56, so as to set free the brake drum e,which situation is shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the printing drum 21 starts rotating in the direction of arrow mark A, the printing plate 22 is supplied with ink by the ink roll 29, and when it reaches the printing position, the sheet 53 also has moved to it corresponding place so that it can be subjected to printing by the printing plate, as shown in FIG. 4.

As mentioned before, the starting and stopping of the printing drum 21 is controlled by the limit switch means, so that after printing and upon one revolution of the printing drum 2], the iron piece 34' provided at a designated place, preferably inside the brake drum e contacts the limit switch 34 provided at a designated place on the frame 33', whereby a signal is sent to the control panel 51 so as to close the magnetic valve 45 and open the magnetic valve 46.

Thus, air contained in the clutch drum 26 is let out in a certain volume from the air discharging valve inside the magnetic valve 45, and the clutch band 26 and the drum d are set free, while on the contrary, air is introduced into the brake band 27 to grip drum e,which situation is shown in FIG. 3. Thus, the printing drum 21 stays motionless until the sheet 53 comes in 27 are used for the startup and stoppage of the printing drum 21, but the purposes of the present invention can be attained by the use of a combination of friction type clutch and a magnetic brake.

For the startup of the air clutch 26, the clutch may be con- "nected with such an object-detecting apparatus as a photoelectric cell or a noncontact switch which has been set in front of the printer so that the apparatus can issue a signal instructing startup immediately after the apparatus detects the front or rear of the to be printed sheet.

As mentioned above, the printer according to the present invention causes less structural troubles than running printers of conventional type. Also, it can print objects accurately position wise and at a high speed of more than prints per minute, thus greatly raising operating efficiency, as compared with the conventional running printers.

Iclaim:

1. A running printer for printing indicia on sequentially fed sheets, said printer comprising a frame; a rotating shaft freely rotatably mounted on said frame; a printing drum freely rotatably mounted on said shaft and having a clutch drum integral with one end of said drum and a brake drum integral with the other end of said drum; a clutch engageable with said clutch drum and a brake engageable with said brake drum;

35 conveyor means operatively associated with said drum for feeding and guiding sheets to be printed beneath said drum said signal means after being conveyed a predetermined distance; and clutch and brake actuating means coupled to said clutch and brake, respectively, and to which said signal means infconnected; said clutch and brake actuating means including means to activate said clutch while substantially simultaneously deactivating said brake in accordance with said signals to affect the printing of said sheets.

2. A printer as claimed in claim 1 in which said means for feeding and guiding a sheet to be printed comprises a guide roll freely rotatable around said brake drum and a guide roll on said clutch rotatable around said clutch drum.

3. A printer as claimed in claim 1 in which said clutch and brake are pressure fluidoperated; and said clutch and brake actuating means comprise magnetic valve means coupled to said brake and clutch for controlling the flow of pressure fluid thereto and therefrom; and said signal means comprises limit switch means on said brake drum and said frame including a limit switch and switch-closing means, and operatively connected to said magnetic valve means for moving said valve means to alternately direct pressure fluid to said brake and to permit discharge of pressure 'fluid from said clutch, in ac- ,cordance with predetermined signals from said signal means.

4. A printer as claimed in claim 3 in which said clutch and brake are an air pressure operated clutch and brake.

5. A printer as claimed in claim 1 including an input side at which the sheets to be printed are fed toward the printing drum, and inwhich said signal means includes a photoelectric cell means positioned on the input side of said printer for sensing the passage of sheets to be printed and providing a predetermined operating signal'to said clutch and brake actuating means to affect the prescribed actions thereto for affecting the printing.

6. A printer as claimed in claim 3 in which said clutch and brake include fluid pressure inflatable bands respectively disposed around and for engagement with the respective clutch and brake drums. 

